Stage 6 - Metz Massacre

Just an idea, but has anyone suggested to the riders that they consider attaching training wheels to their bikes at the Tour de France this year? Because they just cannot stay upright for more than 20km at a time! Crashes again marred Stage 6, a 210km road rash fest from Epernay to Metz. And this time several GC contenders were made to pay the price. Of those who survived (around 60 or so) Peter Sagan again showed his total and utter dominance over the field to record his third victory in just 6 road stages. An injured Andre Greipel was second while an uninjured and mentally fragile Matt Goss was third – sadly for the Aussie if he couldn’t win today, I can’t see him winning a stage at this year’s event.

But the bigger story was the carnage of the crashes. Frank Schleck, Robert Gesink, Ryder Hesjedal and Alejandro Valverde all lost big time in a pile up with 25km to go and are now all out of GC contention. That realistically means that the clash for the overall title has already been reduced to just four riders – Cadel Evans, Bradley Wiggins, Vincenzo Nibali, and Denis Menchov – and I currently have them marked in that order. How Menchov avoided the crash is anyone’s guess because he is normally a magnet for stacks and unnecessary time losses in the opening week of the Tour – maybe that suggests that this is his year!? Fabian Cancellara also survived the pile up and thus retains the yellow jersey for another day. It remains to be seen whether he can hold it on the climb to La Planche des Belles Filles tonight. There was some anger that Orica Green Edge continued to put the hammer down following the crash but that was the only option if they were going to catch the breakaway (in the end they only got them in the last 2km) and give their sprinter a chance for a win on the day. The fact is if you don’t ride in the front half of the field and get caught in a crash you can have no sympathy. Half the difficulty of Le Tour is maintain focus in every kilometre for the entire three week race.

Sagan’s win sees him extend his lead in the points classification to 31 points over Goss who, while performing ok at the intermediate sprint , cannot crack for a win when it matters at the finish. It would be hard to see Sagan losing the jersey from here (crashes pending) as he has shown he can match with the power sprinters on the flat while he is almost unmatched in the peleton on the rolling classics type stages.

Tonight we see the first real hit out for the GC contenders with the stage finishing on the Cat-1 climb to the ski resort of Les Planche Des Belles Filles.

Yellow Jersey – Fabian Cancellara

Green Jersey – Peter Sagan

Polka Dot Jersey – Michael Morkov

White Jersey – Tejay Van Garderen

Brock McLean tweet of the day

@Manxrock - Footballers take note: Poels rode 10km with a 'rupture' in his spleen, kidney, and three fractured rib & Griepel popped his shoulder #TDF